Here is a link to a story about what is purported to be the first silver dollar struck at the Carson City Mint in 1870, written by the current owner (a descendant of the original owner) http://forums.collectors.com/messag...d=734379&highlight_key=y&keyword1=Carson City The original mintage was 11,758; approximately 600 are believed to still exist. These were struck from silver mined at the Comstock Lode, about 15 miles from the mint. As I understand it, the newly struck coins were sent from Carson City to Reno by saddlebag for distribution. Most were struck with prooflike surfaces, the word LIBERTY is more prominent on the shield than on P mint coins, and tends to wear more quickly. Some coins have a weak strike on Miss Liberty's head and chest. Here's mine:
I am a big fan of CC coins and plan on visiting CC next month with my son just before the Reno Air Races. I sure hope the museum is open on Saturday afternoon.
They should be from 8:30-4:30 Museums - Carson City Nevada Convention and Visitors Bureau :thumb:. Thanks for the link Sparrow, it's a really cool story. Too bad she kept it in her purse, and didn't just put it away, imagine a MS70 1870 CC dollar :bigeyes:.
I hope I can go to the CC Mint museum sometime, too. I'd love to see one of these dollars with the original PL surfaces... quite a sight, I imagine!
Interesting story Kaz. The current owners must be very proud to have the coin knowing that it was passed on down the family since it was minted in 1870. Like you, I too was intrigued by the mystique of the CC coins. One day I hope to be able to visit Carson City and its museum museum as well, I hope..... Here is my example of the 1870 CC dollar, similar to yours. I understand that there are varieties of these, with different size mintmarks. Is that correct? Regards, Eduard
Nice one you have there, Eduard!Yours appears to be higher grade than mine (AU?); do you see signs of the PL surfaces? I'm not a member of the SLCC, and I am sure there are articles about die varieties of this issue in the Gobrecht Journal. All I have to fall back on is Breen, who states in his Encyclopedia that there were 3 reverse dies used, including a closely spaced CC and a widely spaced CC. Interestingly,ATB(According To Breen), one of the dies was also used on the 1871-CC, another on the 1872-CC, and a third on the 1873-CC. That made sense, as these were all low mintage coins (the 1870-cc by far the highest). I am sure that Breen's observations have been superseded and improved upon. It might be interesting to look at the mintmarks on coins in some of the auction houses' archives, or simply track down the proper issue of the Gobrecht Journal.
Thank you very much the information, Kaz. Your coin is nice too! That is a good idea, I'll check Heritage archives to see whether the CC on my specimen is the closely or widely spaced type. I don't have it on-hand now to check for luster, but, If I remember there is some around the devices. However, I bought it as VF35 (more than 20 years ago), and the center letters on the shield are not that clear so I guess it will not make a grade of XF40....still a nice coin I think. Regards, Eduard
Wow, that's a really nice old coin with facinating history to boot. Can't beat that with a liberty stick.
I think mine is a vf; remember that these had a higher relief ribbon than the P issues, so the BE wore faster. yours has better hair and gown detail than mine, might go xf. My coin has not been cleaned, but was dipped and has little or no tone, unfortunately, and just a smidge of luster around the devices. Interestingly, the CC mint SL dollars were alleged to be underweight and made of substandard alloy, in 1873 the Mint Bureau examined a number of coins from different deliveries and determined that the allegations were true. A number of examples of these early CC dollars show edge test markings. Although the law called for the Carson City mint director to be executed for the 'crime,' he was merely fired.
